Openings We're Tracking This Week, October 17-23, 2011

Coma Unplugged

Cunningham and Hunter

The Gentleman Caller of this title is a handsome young man who comes to visit an aged, ragged, virtually ruined Tennessee Williams and bring him back to his magnificent past. A terrific idea for a play by James Cunningham and Martin Hunter, directed by David Ferry and opening this week at the historic Hart House.

There is another playwright named Tremblay in Quebec: Pierre-Michel. This one is no slouch either. Many of his previous works have been gorgeous, haunting tales full of "language" and yet still quite, quite playable. Coma Unplugged goes inside the head of a man who...well, look at the title.

When people talk about the iconic Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci combo (opening this week in Edmonton), they are usually just talking about Pag. We beg to differ. Yes, Pag is a great potboiler of a thing, but the music in Cav is so magnificent you can almost close your eyes and still get the pleasure of the evening at the opera. When the carillon sweeps into the magnificent rhythms, when the horseman of the title sings his rustic anthem, when the mass is celebrated, right to the shrieks which end the piece, you only need to listen to understand why this little jewel lives on.